


Setting Fire To Our Insides For Fun

by PrettyLittlePoutyMouth



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-06
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-02-28 09:52:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2727902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrettyLittlePoutyMouth/pseuds/PrettyLittlePoutyMouth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rachel opens up about something she wants to happen in her relationship with Quinn. The writer breaks one of the cardinal rules of fic writing.<br/>Written for Faberry Week Day 7: Coming Out</p>
            </blockquote>





	Setting Fire To Our Insides For Fun

**Author's Note:**

> Probably the most ridiculous story I've ever written. Enjoy.

“I’m home!” Quinn calls, stepping into the apartment she shares with her girlfriend. There’s no immediate response, which isn’t entirely unusual, but it does make Quinn seek out her girlfriend. “Rachel?” she calls.

“Sorry. Hi,” Rachel responds from the study.

Quinn walks in to find Rachel seated at her keyboard. “Hey, sweetheart,” she kisses the top of Rachel’s head.

Rachel leans into her very slightly and just smiles a little, “Hey.”

Quinn has lived with Rachel long enough to know when Rachel is feeling pensive, so she leaves Rachel alone. Rachel has been trying to work on some new music lately, and maybe her distant mood is related to that. Still, Quinn is still Quinn, and though she tries not to feel slighted by Rachel’s mood, a part of her wonders if she’s responsible for it. So she sets to work making a delicious dinner for the two of them.

Two hours later, after Quinn has chopped vegetables and blended sauces and marinated tofu and mixed and baked and sautéed everything into a delicious dish, she pokes her head in to find Rachel still sitting in front of the keyboard, half-hearted plucking the keys. “Dinner’s ready,” she tells her sweetly.

Rachel smiles wanly, “Thank you.” She hesitates, then says, “I’ll be right there.”

Quinn nods, sets out the food on their little table, and opens a bottle of wine.

She tries not to get angry when it’s another five minutes until Rachel joins her at the table.

They eat in silence for the first few minutes, while Quinn tries to reign in her anger. By the time she realizes she feels a lot like her mother, sitting in passive-aggressive silence after putting forth a lot of effort for a non-responsive partner, she decides to break the silence. “How was your day?” she asks, trying for sweetness in her voice.

Rachel winces, recognizing the true tone in Quinn’s voice. “I’m sorry. My day was okay. I just have something on my mind.”

“I noticed,” Quinn answers dryly, sipping her wine. When Rachel doesn’t reply, Quinn says, “Do you want to talk about it?” and her voice comes out soft.

Rachel sighs and pushes her food around on her plate. “I’m just…thinking about our relationship.”

It’s not the answer Quinn expects at all. After the two lost touch in early college, it was almost seven years before they reconnected, and then fell in love. They’d been together for a year and a half, living together for almost a year now, and as far as Quinn knew, everything was good between them. They supported each other’s careers, they gave each other space or a listening ear depending on their needs, they enjoyed a healthy sex life and were deeply in love. It hadn’t been easy. Their friendship had been hard-won back in high school, and reconnecting in adulthood had brought some old feelings and old personality quirks back to the surface that they both thought they’d outgrown, but they were becoming better people, together.

Quinn’s throat is dry as she answers, “What’s wrong?”

Rachel shakes her head, “It’s just…I feel like we haven’t progressed in some areas…”

“What areas, Rachel?” Quinn asks, her voice growing tense, “Just tell me and we’ll work on it, baby…”

Rachel puts her face in her hands, “I just…we haven’t reach the flatulent stage of our relationship yet.”

Quinn’s spine goes rigid. “The what?”

“The flatulent stage, Quinn!” Rachel responds passionately, “We have not yet reached the stage in our comfort with each other that we can release flatulence without worrying about being judged!”

Quinn stares at her wordlessly for several long moments as Rachel stares back tearfully. “You’re upset that we’re not farting in front of each other,” she deadpans.

“Yes, Quinn!” Rachel cries, “It’s a very important stage! We’ve been living together for long enough!”

“Rachel,” Quinn says slowly, “I don’t _want_ to reach the, um, flatulent stage with you.”

“You don’t?!” Rachel sounds wounded.

“No,” Quinn says patiently, “That’s not something I want to do in front of _anyone_ , especially not someone I love.”

“But it’s important to be comfortable with each other!”

“I _am_ comfortable with you, but I respect you too much to do that in front of you!” A thought occurs to her, “Besides, you don’t do it in front of me either!”

“Because I’m waiting for you!” Rachel tells her in a heartfelt voice, “This relationship has always moved at the pace of your comfort, you know that!”

“Well, I’m not interested in ever reaching this stage of comfort, so, I’m sorry.”

“You don’t really love me!” Rachel cries.

“Do _not_ say that!” Quinn answers sharply.

“I just…” Rachel sighs, “I saw Noah tweet about how now he knows to never feed his girlfriend beans, and I remembered overhearing Noah and Finn talking once in high school about how they could never even figure out when you would defecate when you lived with them. And I realized that I have no idea either, and then that’s when it hit me that even after this long, we still haven’t reached the flatulent stage! I reached it with Finn even though we never lived together, and with—”

“Look—just— _stop_ ,” Quinn commands. “I really don’t want to talk about this.”

Rachel turns her face away, and her expression is tragic and heartbreaking. Quinn puts her face in her hand. “I’m _sorry_ ,” she says softly. She wonders if there’s something wrong with her. Some kind of repression leftover from her upbringing. Rachel still doesn’t say anything. “I’m sorry that I’m not at all interested in doing any of this around you. But that’s not going to change. That sort of…intimacy is not something I value in a relationship.”

“It’s important to me,” Rachel says softly.

“I literally _can’t_ ,” Quinn tries desperately to explain. She’s always been pee-shy in public restrooms, and, needless to say, the same applied to any other private bathroom behavior. She’s always needed to be alone in places to relieve herself.

Rachel folds her arms. It’s clear that this isn’t over for her, but it’s over for Quinn. It’s not going to happen, and Quinn can’t fathom that something so ridiculous is becoming this much of an issue.

The next week or so is tense as it’s clear that Rachel isn’t letting this go. Quinn continues to maintain that it will never happen, but after a week, it’s exasperating.

“Look, if it’s so important to you, just do it,” she tells Rachel one day. She doesn’t exactly relish the idea of Rachel passing gas in front of her, but if it makes her feel better…

Rachel folds her arms, “I’m waiting for _you_ ,” she says, “I’m ready for this stage of our relationship to commence, but it is meaningless if you’re not there, too.”

Quinn rolls her eyes, “You’re the only one who’s ever going to get there, so go for it.”

 

Rachel is frustrated about this, more than she can really say. She just doesn’t want to be with someone that she has to hold back from.

She figures it will just take time. The way it took Quinn time to come to terms with her sexuality, the way it took Quinn time to become comfortable enough dating Rachel to have sex, to hold hands in public, to admit that she masturbated, or to share that she was menstruating. It took Quinn time to become comfortable with many aspects of sharing her life with someone.

Rachel figures this is just one of those things.

She tries to lay off, though it’s a gaseous elephant in the room between them at all times now. But there’s no deny that she’s hurt at Quinn’s response.

One night, a few weeks later, thinking about this issue is actually keeping her awake. It’s driving her crazy that nothing is working, not approaching Quinn directly, not stepping back and giving Quinn time. Quinn has remained adamant about not wanting this, and it’s making Rachel feel awful and unloved.

She glances as Quinn, who is curled up in bed next to her, sleeping peacefully. Rachel smiles a little. She’s so beautiful. Maybe she can learn to just accept this, to just accept Quinn for who she is and what her limits are…

And then, she hears it. The smallest rumble from Quinn’s side of the bed.

Rachel laughs quietly. “I love you, too,” she whispers, curling up with her still-sleeping girlfriend, and drifting off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Daughter, "Youth."


End file.
